Join us in Santa Fe on Thurs PM to talk public lands!  RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/keep-parks-public-new-mexicos-public-lands-under-pressure-tickets-1993703743566 #publiclands #nationalparks #newmexico

Join us in Santa Fe on Thursday for a live podcast recording about New Mexico's parks and public lands! RSVP below 

Keep Parks Public: New Mexico's Public Lands Under Pressure

Join us for a live podcast recording about the threats facing New Mexico’s public lands.

eventbrite.com

July 29, 2026 @1 pm RALLY TO PROTECT CHACO at Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office in #SantaFe 301 Dinosaur Trail Diné - Pueblo Solidarity! #ProtectChaco #ChacoCanyon #NewMexico

From Ogden to Bluff, Utahns all over the state showed up to stand with Tribes and support Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments on Monday. Check out photos from the rallies in our photo essay below. 

"We're powered by love": Utahns gather across the state to show support for national monuments

Rallies held from Ogden to Bluff illustrate broad support for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase in Utah

westwise.substack.com

Over 1000 people turned out around the state yesterday to protest Trump's reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments.  When UT Gov Cox and Senator Mike Lee say locals don't support the monuments, think of these images.

CALLING ALL UTAHNS!  Are you mad about Bears Ears and Grand Staircase? Tell your reps and governor.  Monday evening. See you there.

Both Congress and the Supreme Court have weighed in on multiple occasions to uphold the President's ability to designate landscape-scale national monuments, contradicting claims that Bears Ears and Grand Staircase are "too big" https://westwise.substack.com/p/utahs-case-against-bears-ears-and

The Antiquities Act was always intended to protect landscapes, not just dots on a map.  The author of the Act actually asked Congress to protect Bears Ears in 1906.  

What The History Of The Antiquities Act Could Mean For The Future Of Bears Ears

Gov. Spencer Cox has said Utah will likely sue if President Joe Biden enlarges Bears Ears National Monument. But experts say that could be a hard case to win.

kuer.org

Reupping this banger from @NWF in light of Trump's (and the Utah delegation and Kate MacGregor's) lies. 

Bears Ears: The Hunters Monument

By Lew Carpenter

medium.com

How President Trump and Utah leaders lied and misled on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase open.substack.com/pub/westwise...

How President Trump and Utah leaders lied and misled on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase

Lies about the correct size of a monument, the history of the Antiquities Act, and hunting and fishing access were all used to justify the downsizing

open.substack.com

President Trump signed proclamations today shrinking Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by about 90 percent each. Our statement here: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-signs-orders-attacking-utah-monuments-based-on-false-information/

🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 President Trump just signed two executive orders reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by a combined 3 million acres, according to media reports. Below is a statement from SUWA Executive Director, Scott Braden. Stay tuned for next steps.

President Trump is planning a secret attack on Utah's Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments today at 4:30p ET. The signing is closed to the press. https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-plans-secretive-attack-on-utah-national-monuments-underscoring-unpopularity/

News outlets in Utah report that President Trump plans to sign an order Monday shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-plan-to-shrink-bears-ears-and-grand-staircase-escalante-is-illegal-and-defies-public-support/

BLM greenlights irresponsible Cadiz pipeline without full environmental review, as David Bernhardt’s firm lobbies for rebranded “Groundwater Bank” Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/statement-on-ethically-compromised-cadiz-pipeline-approval-by-blm/

Members of the Western Governors Association were met with these images protected onto a rock wall in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Wednesday, July 1, 2026 in Salt Lake City

The House Natural Resources Democrats just released a bombshell report on Freedom250.  Hatch Act violations, wire fraud, obstruction, corruption... Freedom250 has it all.  Read on:  https://democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/freedom250_oversight_report2.pdf

President Trump and Doug Burgum today attended the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota. Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/07/trump-delivers-rambling-remarks-at-theodore-roosevelt-presidential-library-opening-in-north-dakota/

Lee is playing politics with the housing crisis again. In calling for mass deportations, he's doing the same thing he did last year when he tried to sell off public lands: using the housing crisis to push his extremist agenda

Mike Lee claimed to care about affordable housing. Then he voted against it.

Senator Lee spent years trying to sell off public lands in the name of housing. Then he voted against the biggest housing bill in a generation and blamed immigrants for the affordable housing crisis.

westwise.substack.com

Nothing like celebrating a conservation icon while dismantling everything he did. It's giving Gilded Age. Here's how Trump and Burgum are treating Roosevelt's legacy: https://westwise.substack.com/p/teddy-roosevelt-ended-the-gilded

On the eve of Independence Day, the Trump administration has removed a mention of slavery from Independence Hall. 

Trump administration quietly removed mentions of slavery from Independence Hall, Thomas Jefferson portrait

The Inquirer's discovery of these changes come as Philadelphians are grappling with the Trump administration's attacks on the President's House Site.

inquirer.com

A defense law is being rewritten to fast-track mining. Here's what you should know: open.substack.com/pub/westwise...

The biggest threat to public lands you've never heard of

A 1950s defense law is being rewritten to gut environmental review, expand the government's financial stake in mining, and fast-track extraction in the name of 'emergencies'

open.substack.com

Hate to say "we told ya so..." But we did. Thanks to Congress, the mgmt of over 160 million acres of public lands are in limbo. 

Congress opened Pandora's Box on public lands. Here comes the chaos

A new lawsuit targeting a timber sale in Oregon could decide the fate of all BLM land management plans submitted since 1996

substack.com

Teddy Roosevelt:  ✅Conserved nearly 230M acres of public land Donald Trump: ❌Ended protections for over 100M acres of public land See more:

Unprotecting American Lands: How Trump Is Dismantling America’s Bipartisan Conservation Legacy

In his second term, President Trump has taken action to remove protections from more than 86 million acres of public lands, threatening beloved landscapes and wildlife across the country.

americanprogress.org

Trump has nominated Michael Chamberlain, a hyperpartisan political operative, to lead the Office of Government Ethics. Our statement here: https://westernpriorities.org/2026/06/trump-nominates-hyperpartisan-political-operative-to-top-government-ethics-job/

These were hung on the Interior department today.  Trump is using government resources to promote himself.  If it walks like a Hatch Act violation and talks like a Hatch Act violation....

Congress just passed a once-in-a-generation affordable housing bill.  Senator Mike Lee voted against it.  Guess he wasn't serious about solving the affordable housing crisis after all. 

The Five Republican Senators Who Voted Against the Bipartisan Housing Affordability Bill

The legislation is poised to be the largest housing package to be signed into law in decades.

time.com

The Interior department is beginning the process of updating its policies regarding designated wilderness, wilderness study areas, and lands with wilderness characteristics. Our statement:  https://westernpriorities.org/2026/06/interior-lays-the-groundwork-for-attacks-on-wilderness-and-wildlands/

Incredible reporting from @joanmeiners.bsky.social about why 320,000 acres of Arizona public lands are being leased even though geologists agree there's no oil there. Absolutely worth a read, it's a wild ride.

Joan Meiners, PhD@joanmeiners.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Read this one. (It's free.) Possibly the craziest investigation I've published. It's got mystery, fraud, false leads, a road trip & plenty of characters as I dig into what could be going on with 320K acres of public lands up for oil drilling in a place without oil. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Taxpayers are now funding the MAGA movement, according to a new Public Citizen report. Trump has spent nearly $103 MILLION on his MAGA “Freedom 250” events.  For more:

MAGA 250! $103M in Federal Contracts Flow to Trumpified “Freedom 250” Events - Public Citizen

American democracy is in jeopardy, from the disastrous Citizens United ruling that flooded our politics with corporate cash to the immoral assault on voting rights. We work every day to defend against these threats and advance bold reforms.

citizen.org